1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a technique for automatically adjusting a layout in a document production system.
2. Related Art
CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) is an example of a known technique for adjusting a layout in a system for producing a document which includes texts or character strings (cf. “CSS Specifications”, searched Apr. 3, 2006 on the Internet at URL: http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/#specs). Using CSS, character strings can be classified into plural attributes such as “title”, “subtitle”, “body”, etc. Also using CSS, different font sizes can be set for character strings with different attributes, respectively.
The CSS affords two methods for determining a font size: (1) determining a font size on the basis of a size ratio relative to a reference font (hereinafter, font size determination with perfect interaction); and (2) determining a font size on the basis of an absolute value (hereinafter, font size determination without interaction). In the method of font size determination with perfect interaction, a font size is determined on the basis of a font size ratio relative to a font size of a reference attribute. For example, if the reference attribute is “body”, the font sizes for “title” and “subtitle” are determined in terms of a magnification ratio in relation to the font size for “body”. When the font size for “body” is set, the font sizes for “title” and “subtitle” are automatically determined in relation to the font size for “body”. In the other method of font size determination without interaction, font sizes for different attributes are respectively set as absolute values which are independent from one another.
According to the method of font size determination with perfect interaction, each time a font size for an attribute is changed, font sizes for all the other attributes are inevitably changed at the same time. Consequently, a problem occurs, in that processing becomes complex. Inversely, the method of font size determination without interaction gives rise to another problem, that of a user having to set manually the font sizes for all attributes in order to maintain a balance in font sizes between attributes.